"CJ Silas joins Mike & Billy in studio from The CJ Silas Show for a 2012 reveiw and the announcement of her move to Wednesdays on ESPN 1280. Jaacob Bowden from Swing Man Golf calls into the show to discuss how to increase your swing speed and the RE/MAX Long Drive Finals airing on ESPN Sunday, December 30th, 2012."

Was in Richmond Virginia from June 26th to July 1st participating as a Pro in a speedgolf event at Kanawah Golf Club in conjunction with the Eastern Open from June 27th-30th in order to raise money for the First Tee of Richmond.

“With a 2-degree change in driver loft and some minor adjustments made to his swing path, angle of attack, etc., one of my amateur students went from being an already above-average efficient driver at 2.61 yards/mph to an extremely efficient one at 2.75 yards/mph. So with no change to his 102 mph swing speed, he increased his driving distance average from 266 to 280. Then after some swing speed training, he got up to 112 mph and can now hit drives around 307 yards with that same efficiency of 2.75 yards/mph. That’s 41 more yards!”

Let’s talk about the three reasons this student was able to achieve the extra 41 yards, because they can help every golfer add distance to their drives.

In a previous article, I wrote about how you can build functional speed into your golf swing over several weeks by practicing swinging faster, and using resistance bands to perform downswing band isometrics.

Most amateurs and even professionals don’t work on their speed at all, so when you simply put in a little bit of effort to gain speed, you can make very quick improvements.

If you’re hungry for more distance, here are 6 additional exercises that you can add into your routine to continue building strength and speed to your golf swing.

If you want to hit the golf ball farther and you’re willing to put in a bit of physical effort to achieve the desired results, then consider adding isometric exercises to your training program.

An isometric exercise is an exercise in which a muscle gets contracted but the joint doesn’t visibly move. For example, pushing your hands together as hard as you can will contract the muscles, but your joints don’t appear to move.

Isometrics have been around for many hundreds, and possibly thousands of years with historical application in activities like yoga and oriental martial arts.

Because isometrics do not need much in the way of equipment and can work with just your own body weight, they are relatively safe to perform and are often used in physiotherapy and for injury rehab.

Personally, I first remember learning about isometric exercises when I was studying Bruce Lee’s training regimes in an effort to find things that would help with hitting the golf ball farther.

• Jaacob shares his story from growing up in St. Louis, MO to becoming one of the world’s leading experts in gaining swing speed. • He didn’t start his journey to be a professional until after college and working several years in the corporate world. • He went from a 14 handicap to a professional golfer in a ridiculous amount of time • Jaacob talks about his mentors Dan Shauger and Mike Austin and how they changed his golf swing and ultimately his career path • Jaacob tells us about his long drive competitions and what his training consisted of during that time • He gives us his 2 biggest keys to gaining speed in your swing • Jaacob explains how his system at SwingManGolf.com has helped thousands get more clubhead speed in short period and how you can take advantage of it, too

There seems to be a steady progression of lost driving distance that comes with age, but I don’t recall ever seeing much actual information on the topic. My curiosity got the best of me, so one day I sat down and tried to figure it out.

I started by looking up the ages and driving distances of 440 players on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, Champions Tour, European Tour and European Senior Tour.

Here’s a breakdown of the averages I found in five-year increments, along with a calculation of their estimated average swing speeds based on the average Tour players driving distance efficiency being about 2.57 yard/mph.

In 2003, Jaacob Bowden was living in Kansas City working as a computer engineer in the corporate world. Uninspired in his daily work and realizing that playing golf gave him tremendous satisfaction, Jaacob traded in his corporate career to pursue the dream of becoming a Professional Golfer. This journey has since taken Jaacob from being an average golfer who typically drove the ball 220-275 to scratch golfer and long-drive champion.

While Jaacob's long-term goal is to play on the PGA Tour, he has made considerable strides in a relatively short amount of time. In 2003, after working with distinguished golf instructors Dan Shauger and Mike Austin, Jaacob won the Pinnacle Distance Challenge with a televised drive of 381-yards and he has also since hit a grid-record 421-yard drive at a RE/MAX World Long Drive Local Qualifier in Temecula, California.

His athletic ability coupled with his insatiable appetite to learn every aspect of the game has made him not only a respected player but an incredible teacher as well. As a result, he brings perspective and experience that uniquely relates to both the average and professional golfer. Through his own training Jaacob has explored and tested a variety of techniques and training aids - the most recent of which involves researching swing speed training. His personal efforts to increase his own swing speed - and thus hit bigger drives - has made Jaacob one of the foremost experts on speed training in the world.

Jaacob continues to train and prepare for golf tournaments and long drive events while furthering his knowledge of golf and swing speed.

In Part 3, the final part of my “More Distance for Golf” series, we’re going to talk about what you can do to get longer from a golf fitness standpoint.

Long Drive Golf Fitness

In all of the interviews I’ve done with my professional long drive colleagues and friends via Swing Man Golf, just one of them said they swing as fast as they do naturally. The lone exception, who said his distance was natural, told me in the interview that he’s in the gym 5-6 days/week. So whether they realize it or not, every single long-drive guy is doing or has done something from a golf fitness standpoint to be able to swing faster to generate more ball speed.